No wings, No fear
by Supersairaptor
Summary: This fanfiction envisions a world where supernatural as well as mythical creatures exist and shaped the world in they're image we center on primus... Or primal earth as it is called, an ancient primal world where gods, monsters, demons and magic reign supreme. In this world, size matters most, but even if your not very big,  big brains and grit can help. Need good criticism
1. Chapter 1

This fanfiction envisions a world where supernatural as well as mythical creatures exist and shaped the world in they're image we center on primus... Or primal earth as it is called, an ancient primal world where gods, monsters, demons and magic reign supreme. In this world, size matters most, but even if your not very big, big brains and grit can help. But with all of this power and mystical energy comes the potential to use it for nefarious purposes. This story chronicles the adventure of Xander hellstryfe, a young sage/swordsman in training and his acquaintance with a creature of legend on his quest to become an unlikely hero. along his way he has numerous encounters with mythical beasts and magical creatures all aiding him to become who he is destined to be...and with the threat of extinction once a gain befalling humanity, Xander may very well be the only hope...

For as long as we can remember our world has been ruled under monsters, mystical beings and entities of unbelievable power or the gods.

It's because of them that we we humans exist today but like all creatures that have been "created" by them, they started off as mere hyper evolved demihumans living in the shadows of powerful, fast, near godlike beasts, the elder beasts, the original rulers of this world who shaped primus in they're image. That is, until the day they stumbled upon the latent magical forces of this world deep in the devine mountains of Holuna and were reborn as Devine beings who purged they're world of their elder oppressors leaving only a lucky few to escape. And so with they're world at peace from the wars waged from beast to beast ,they now began to create life. Till now they kept themselves hidden from humans, but the eldest of them all, zannir felt compassion toward humans and saw them as his children who just needed guidance and felt they deserved the precious divine gifts they had, however his brother; ruko, felt that humans needed none of these things and felt that they were beneath them, that they deserved no better than to be they're servants and should remain that way. Being older, Zannir simply ignored his brothers ranting, much to ruko's anger and contempt. So in an attempt to undermine him he tapped into the dark energy that resonated from him and created races of demonic creatures bent on the extinction of the human race, overpowered and defenseless the humans pleaded for the god's help, zannir appalled and infuriated by his brothers actions in turn created a race of wingless draconic creatures to combat his demonic threat, the battle lasted eons and when it finally subsided primus was in shambles, with flying accusations and mistrust the four races of the primal earth; the gods, the monsters, the magical creatures and the humans all went they're separate ways, and as for the demons and the dragons, rumor has it that a few may still be alive even after the great battle, but as far as we know it's just that;a rumor. Since then, the law permitting species from intermingling with each other has gotten a bit...inconsistent and currently all are coexisting with each other on a daily basis, in fact artisans (or the human children who choose a style of combat or mystical study to learn defend they're villages from rouge monsters or magi's), get to choose they're companions for they're journeys but only if they accept the young artisan, however once chosen both the monster and magical being are bound to the artisan's side and will be dedicated to protect that one person..but in Xander's case, those very beings he meets may very well be the best thing that's ever happened to him...

No wings, no fear

Chapter 1: introductions

My name is Xander hellstryfe, and I'm just you're average sage/swordsman artisan, except I'm friends with by far the most powerful monster in this realm. He is one of the few remaining wingless dragons called fulgururaptor's or"lightning thieves" created by the great compassionate god Zannir , but I nicknamed him Raito.

I'm also friends with 3 other artisans of my Guild in my home town holuna or "the city of the blue moon."

This is my story, well partially my story because it's kind of ratio's as well( but between you and me, it's mainly about me).

"I heard that Xander" a young yet deep voice chimes in

" C'mon Raito, I'm just trying to set the stage for our story!" I respond.

"Look,we both know this story has just as much to do with me as it does with you so no more lone wolf mentality or "oh I'm such a badassery" got it?" he rebukes

"Well more or less my reptilian friend

More or less" I once again respond he simply rolls his eyes and let's out and audible snort through his nostrils and walks off.

Did I mention he could talk as well, yeah, crazy right? Now I bet you're wondering ,what the hell kind of world do you live in dude?! Well it's a bit tough to explain but I'll do my best, it all started the day I was woken up rather...unpleasantly...


	2. Chapter 2

"Xander!..XANDER! Wake up! It's time to head to the guild!" a petite feminine voice shouts into my ear shaking me repeatedly

"I don't wanna go mommy, 5 more minutes" I mutter half conscious,then like a blur something hard strikes the left side if my face knocking me out of my bed and onto the floor face first.

"Owww!, ugh! What the hell?! Who-" I stop immediately realizing who had woken me up, my housemate airi. I glared up at the fiery/crimson haired lairis girl (I'll explain what that is at the end of the chapter as well as the other creatures in my story) with a frilly onesie like dress on glaring back down at me with her hands on her round hips. Though she was short, she was really cute; big emerald green eyes, caramel colored skin , cute face as well as a curvy physique with quite modest assets, but the reason why we're so combative with eachother is the simple fact that she is kinda bossy, arrogant,and has a tendency to get jealous very quickly, but despite when she gets in her moods like now, she is actually a very sweet girl with a heart of gold (or a tsundere, yes she has a crush on me I can tell by the way she snaps at me, as soon as she turns around I notice a pink dusting on her cheeks.)

"Airi what was that for?!" I shouted

"You didn't get up when I told you!" She shouted back

"Since when are you my alarm clock?!" I rebuke

"Since I'm the one keeping your lazy ass from getting kicked out of you're own livelihood!, now get up and get dressed they want us there in 30 minutes there's a big announcement today"she says with less venom in her tone

"But what about breakfast?" I ask

"We'll eat when we get there, now hurry up!" she finishes and floats out of the room slamming my door behind her

"Oh boy, this is gonna be a long day" I mutter under my breath heaving a sigh, I took a quick shower, slid on my tunic shirt pants, boots, my gloves and gauntlets and thin jacket and torso armor plate, finally after all of my preparation I grabbed my two swords one a medium sized broad sword with a dragon scale hilt , the other a chokuto with a leather hilt and a ruby slitted eye on the end of it and hitched then onto my back grabbed the rest of my gear and headed outside to meet airi.

We strolled down the cobblestone walkway of my house and proceeded down the steep set of stairs that led through the city still encapsulated in the early twilight hours, it was 6 am and the sun had barely cast it's early morning orange glow over the horizon,the air was still crisp and cool and chilled me to the bone, but nonetheless survivable.

"So what was that big announcement airi?" I asked with a yawn following, still half asleep

"Well all D ranked artisans are to report to Dragon's edge for they're first assignment of the season" she explains floating just above my head

So the ranking that we get are kind of a way of judging our skill level, we all start off as F rank when we first get excepted into a guild and we build up to the highest rank which is S. Guilds are kind of like these clubs that we join with the intention of perfecting our individual skills and becoming the heroes we aspire to be ,my guild dragon's edge which is one of the highest ranked guilds with a reputation for having the highest number of S ranked artisans and has been this way since it was first established.

"And what is that first assignment airi?" I inquire my tone making it clear to her to stop beating around the bush

"A monster capturing mission" she says plainly

"W-what?!" I shout in surprise

"That's all I'm gonna tell you right now, the Guild master will fill you in on the rest, he told me he wanted to speak to you personally"

"Seriously? To me?!" I ask and start to stutter to excited to speak but when I actually get control over my mouth airi is in front of me with one of her fingers on my lips, surprised I look up at her to find that cute smile I always see on her when she knows she got me good

"Shhh, no more talk, c'mon dummy we're gonna be late!" She says and yanks me by my wrist and hauls me toward the entrance to our guild, this was the airi I liked and the side of her I wished she'd show more often...

We made it to the guild in 10 seconds flat and pushed open the large silver doors, inside everyone who we had come to know , human, beast and liminal alike were mingling with eachother, all of the "d's" as we call ourselves. I strutted proudly over to our table which was always reserved to us since were both registered under a party name, all artisans form parties with either monsters, magical beings or even other artisans but once you pledge to a party, you stay in that party, and in one you always have to have people you can trust.

I plopped down and took a deep breath loving the fact that I was part of something so awesome airi smiled and even giggled a bit at my enthusiasm. Just then a boy with spiky silver/grey hair and elf ears walked over to us

"Yo Xander how's it going man?!"

He said with conviction and warmth. It was one if my best friends from childhood; Marco an elven swordsman, he's one of those best guy friends who always has your back even at the worst of times and never leaves you in the dark, by definition you could call him a true friend despite the fact that sometimes his optimism gets the best of him. Since he has silver hair it's pretty evident that he also had red eyes, but what's strange about those eyes is that they are slitted(which I never really understood). He wears a thin black tunic shirt covered with a navy blue hoodie and a small set of armor over it he also always wears those same turquoise baggy shin length cargo pants with absolutely no armor, a large item pouch and a long enscripted knight like sword strapped to his back,(seriously does this guy have no regard for his safety at all?!)

Though now that I think about it not once had he not recovered or narrowly escaped the jaws of a poisonous monster and always seemed to be one step ahead of his opponent, his intuition was astounding..although at times he decided not to show it.

"Hey Marco!, everything's awesome! so you ready for the big announcement?" I asked while fist bumping my best childhood friend

"Damn skippy I am!, oh..and by the way there's a certain someone here who's been dying to see you again" he says rather slyly elbowing my shoulder, I internally gasp at the thought while airi crosses her arms, rolls her eyes, scoffs and pouts.

"Oh crap, is she around?" I ask him hesitantly

"Well not at the moment but she should be here in...3...2...now"

And just like he said the doors flew open and I heard a gasp then an earsplitting screech-like scream and rapid footsteps headed my direction. My blood ran cold and I tried to quickly whip around but a mass collided with me and knocked me out of my chair the next thing I knew my face was someplace dark and warm and at the same time kinda soft and plushy.

"XANDER! Oh great gods above it really is you! I can't believe it! I'm so happy to see you again!" Squeals the familiar voice of another one of my party members; Mei,

an elven Mage/archer who I hadn't seen in three years because she had gone to train in her homeland, and I am currently shoved in the middle of my well endowed teammate's ample bosom.

"S-sis, I think your little friend has had enough, he's sounds like he can't breathe" Marco says

The elf girl looks at him with confusion then looks down at the boy in her bust and realizes what she's doing, the boy was prying at her arms which were snaked around his neck in a desperate attempt to escape this cute but deadly prison "eeek! In sorry xandie I-I mean Xander, please forgive me!" she shouts embarrassed with a deep blush decorating her cheeks.

I sucked in as much air as my lungs could stand trying to regain my sight, and when I did I was finally able to get a good look at mei,(oh and if it wasn't clear earlier she is Marco's sister) she was even more of a gorgeous sight than the first time I had met her, her eyes had turned an enchanting shade of ocean blue her forest green hair had gotten longer now down to her shoulders

, her change in style was still the same a purple button down dress skirt covered with thin custom made armor designed for her figure she wore slender gauntlets on her wrists extending down her forearms, long leggings covered with shin armor and her high heel boots also had a thin layer of armor on them,her face hadn't changed a bit still that cute innocent girl with smooth, shiny porcelain, cream colored skin, her elf ears projected from her head and drooped in a way that was just too cute to process and to top it all of her bountiful hips and large bust only added on to her charm, but it wasn't her obvious assets that got my attention, it was the fact that although she was a fierce fighter, she was the most gentle, caring, sweetest most selfless girl with a heart of gold that I have ever met and always thinks of others before herself and helps any way she can, what could very well be called: "A true pure soul"

"It's ok mei it's really good to see you again, you've become quite the sight since I last saw you" I said to the now blushing elf girl twiddling her index fingers

"U-um th-thanks you know ,you've become quite handsome as well" she stutters out which surprised me, I knew she kinda liked me but she was never this open before( I'm not as oblivious to they're emotions as you think, and don't call me a player or womanizer and I for damn sure am not leading them on. I'm merely just lucky that girls as cute as them actually like a guy like me this much and I'm basking in the moment and of course I like them both equally as much, no I am not a polygamist, that's illegal...or is it? Anyhow back to our tale)

"So mei how did you're training back home go?" I asked

"Oh it was awesome!, I finally perfected my archery with my father and my mother taught me how to enhance the accuracy of my magic merely by focusing all of my energy into my brain then to my hands, see performing magic is all about having balance both mentally and physically. I trained my body and mind up to the point where I achieved bliss then used that to my advantage." She chatters on

I found it noble that she put so much effort into getting stronger since three years ago I remember it clearly too...

Flashback: 3 years ago

" Xander I need to tell you something" a young elf girl asks a 13 year old Xander, they were currently sitting on a bench on the green hill they always go to reconnect with themselves and nature and also for some peace and quiet the sunset cast a brilliant yellow/ red glow over the tips of the green expanse giving the impression that it may have been on fire.

"what is it mei? Is something wrong?" I ask with a hint of concern in my voice this wasn't like mei to be this way she seemed so upset and depressed she always had a warm, cute smile on her face now she had empty eyes and a darkened aura casted around her.

"I-I want to get stronger!" She shouts looking me directly in the eyes.

"Mei what do you mean get stronger?" I inquire.

" it's just that" she chokes out, tears brimming in the corners of her huge doe eyes" you're always having to save me from something or someone with malicious intentions toward me, and I feel horrible that you have to risk you're life for me, I'm- I..." She tries to form word but they come out as sobs" I'm useless!" She screams.

I grab onto her shoulders and look her directly in her huge vibrant ocean blue orbs "Mei, get this out of you're system because as of now, I never want to hear those words come out of you're mouth ever again" I state in the most serious tone I could muster.

"B-but" she begins but I cut her off and pull her into a tight hug "Mei, you're anything but useless, when someone has a bad day you're always there to cheer them up, when I need help or someone else does you're always there to lend the most helpful hand you can offer , and when someone needs a shoulder to cry on you're always there to comfort them and reassure them that everything will work out. If anything you're the most amazing type of person there is, the kind of heart you have is a treasure, it's what this world needs the most. And if you do feel useless, change it! Train as hard as you can and get stronger and then keep going to get even stronger than that! I have a philosophy I go by ; 'life doesn't wait or change for anyone if you want something and you're willing to fight for it then fight! Fight for you! Fight to beat yourself, and fight to beat life!' I lecture her and the look I could describe on her face was nothing short of shock and disbelief, but my suspicions that it got through were answered then the floodgates broke and she wailed into my chest wrapping her arms around me as tight as she could squeeze, I chuckled and smiled warmly and stroked the soft hair of my friend who had finally found her new purpose.

" I'm gonna do it Xander, I'm gonna get stronger, I'll beat myself! I'll beat life! And nothing is going to stop me! Nothing!" she shouts in shaky breaths trying to regulate her breathing

Back to the present

"You've changed so much mei, I'm so proud of you!" I gush to her making her entire head turn red as a cherry even her hair changed color airi just scoffed and floated away, man she gets jealous so easily, it's so cute when she pouts though.

"Dude, heads up the guild master is here" Marco whispers to me and the entire guild hall falls silent, he enters a large firmly built man with a dark grey beard tied back hair and common shirt with a breastplate attached to it an item belt strapped to his waist a huge sword on his back and one sturdy wooden leg.

"Hello kids! How are you all today?!" He asks in a husky elderly voice filled with warmth and wisdom

"Fine mister guildmaster!" We all respond in unison

"Very good! Now to get down to business, as you all should know by now you're first monster hunting mission starts today so I need you all to be on you're 'a' game! The monster you will be hunting is the infamous cockatrice!" he states and we all begin to murmur with one another we'd heard about the vicious beast before and how many an artisan who lost they're lives to it.

"It's quite the dangerous animal, one look at it alive, dead, or even with a decapitated head its still enough to turn you into stone! I want you all to take care when hunting down this demonic creature I don't want to loose any of you this early on, you may not be at a high rank yet but you all show such promise, such courage" he says to us filling us with his usual brand of confidence and self reassurance" I know you all can do this, now go give that oversized demon chicken hell! Dragon's edge chant!" He shouts

"HUUURAAAAHH!" We all shout now pumped for the task at hand. The other d ranks grab they're gear and take off out the door

"Oh Xander my boy perfect timing! Where's airi?" He stops me

"Um currently she is pouting in the corner" I gesture and he follows my finger to find airi sitting in a booth with a mug in her hand, her face already flushed

He laughs heartily and wraps his arm around my neck" Xander my boy, it's time I let you in on something...little airi there is in love with you" he states which shocks the living daylights out of me as well as mei who gasps with audible horror

"W-what did you say?!" I ask hesitantly

"Think about it Xander, has she been moody lately?" He asks back

"Well now that you mention it yeah she has been, but then again she's always moody" I respond

"Well she may be suffering from love sickness, and the only way she can express that for the time being is by being moody and bossy in reality when I introduced her to you she seemed eager to get to know you, maybe you should talk to her about it. But enough of that for now, the reason I called you here was because I have a special assignment just for you"

"For me?" I ask

"Yes you, now the cockatrice might be a dangerous monster, but I have a far more challenging quest for you, I want you and you're party to bring me the fang of a tatzelwurm"

"A tatzelwurm?! Do you have any idea how dangerous they are?!" I ask shocked

"Yes my boy I am fully aware of that,that is why I am asking you above all the rest of you're peers to do it of all of them Xander you show the most promise, I have never seen someone with skill like yours" his words hit me deeply filling me with pride and confidence

"Well I'm not that good" I rebuke modestly

"Stop being all modest Xander" Marco gushes slapping my back

"It's true, of all the sage/swordsman in the city byou are the first to be bumped from F-D class in a month!" Mei says clasping my hand in both of her soft ones.

Seeing the faith they have in me I couldn't help but agree to the guildmaster's request and so I proclaimed proudly"Alright guildmaster! Sign me up!"

"That's my boy!" He shouts "now then I also have another surprise for you"

"What's that?" I ask anxiously

"It's finally time for you to find a monster companion!"

"What?!, but none of the other artisans have even have been given separate missions yet in order to earn the right to find one!" I shout

"Well none have shown as much skill in monster hunting as you and you're party, last season you brought back some of the rarest finds in the city!, so it stands to reason that the next qualified D rank artisan should find a monster to and in ensuring the safety of his city, and offer his assistance to higher ranked artisans as well" the guild master explains

"Oh...uh, well when you put it that way.." Unsure of what to think at this point, it's all too much, I've gotten my own monster hunting mission and I have to find my own monster to add to my party, oh gods I feel like my head is going to explode!

"I knew you would say yes!, no off you go my boy you've got a lot of ground to cover

And tatzelwurms can be surprisingly reclusive and sneaky, so you'd best get on it!" The guild master urges

"O-ok, Mei, Marco you guys head for the main gate I'll catch up with you, I just gotta sober up airi" they both nod in compliance and head out of the doors.

I then turn and head for the now drunken lairis whose face is flushed red and hiccuping.

"Airi, what's wrong?" I ask the girl who gives me the best glare she can muster

"Li-like you care!" she slurs out"I bet you just loved the attention of that huge breasted half elf didn't you? You guys are all the same, see a girl with a pair of plump knockers and your putty In they're hands"

"Ah, so that's what this is, you're just jealous of Mei aren't you it?"

I ask and she then turns an even darker shade of red(gotcha!)

"N-no!, as if I'd ever be jealous of a half elf!" She stutters out

"Airi, Mei is one of my best and most trusted childhood friends, and although she is rather beautiful now, that doesn't mean that I'm taking her over you, I know we've only known each other for a shorter time but you already know how I feel about you" I say

"So?, you can be so dense sometimes and I wonder if you're even as smart as you let yourself off to be, I swear sometimes you are just so insufferable" I just smile and look her directly in the eye

"True, very true, but if you hated me you wouldn't even associate with me would you?" I ask which accordingly gets a giggle from airi and that smile she always puts on her face when she knows I got her back.

"Yeah, that's true, I don't hate you, you're just really stupid sometimes" she says and takes my hand which is already on the table, I smile and lean forward and peck her forehead.

"Come on silly, it's time to go" I say and usher her up

"Don't think you got out of this Xander, just because I like you doesn't mean I forgive easily" she shoots back to me, her bossy, prideful, stubborn side showing its colors

"I know airi" I take her hand and look down at her and we share a smile

" now let's be off"


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3: wurm hunt

I tore through the densely foliated forest following the distinct slither trail of the tatzelwurm who had stuck close to the edge of the city to snatch sheep from farmers land, I vaulted over chopped down logs and cut and ducked into the dense bush grove with airi flying close behind me.

"This is where they stop" airi says which I confirm as well, then Marco and Mei finally catch up and crouch near the bushes as well

"So how close are we?" I ask Marco and Mei

"Very, 20ft away is the creature's nest, it must have gone to get food for its hatchlings and it should be back any second" Mei says

"Alright, now you all know the drill,we're not going to kill this thing we're just here to get a tooth. Now here's the plan: when the tatzelwurm slithers into view, Marco and I will rush out and distract it and see if we can wear it down, Mei I want you to post up in that tree behind me and use one of you're tranq arrows to tire the creature out and airi I want you to deliver the final coupe de gras with a sleep spell once it's good and tired"

they all nodded in unison and waited for my signal. Then, a good 10 minutes later I heard a strange hissing sound then the silhouette of a large four-legged serpent slunk into view with a lamb in its jaws, it had finally arrived. With a quick hand motion everyone assumed they're positions and Marco and I waited for an opportunity, to be honest I'd never seen a tatzelwurm before, only in books,it looked more like a four legged snake/lizard hybrid with a triangular lizard/cat head, long claws overlapping armor like scales sharp fangs and cat like ears with spikes on its lower jaw and patches of fur on its body leading all the way to the end of its long tail which ended with a strange prehensile "claw" on its tip.

"You ready Xander?" Marco asks me, then I look back at him and respond

"You know it buddy, let's go!" I shout then we burst out of the bushes and draw our weapons, the tatzelwurm turns toward us and let's out an eerie screech and shook its tail like a rattle snake and even sounded like one, then the beast charged us, I narrowly dodged its jaws clamping down way too close to my leg and backpedaled out of its reach and onto my feet, Marco bounds at the monster but it swats him away with its tail and I take my opportunity and rush it jumping into its back, the creature shrieks and tries to jerk and slither around to shake me off but I persisted and held on with all of my might. Marco recovered from the throw relatively quickly and rejoined the skirmish, he jumped toward the creature and swung his sword which struck the left hindquarter of the cat snake and left a rather large gash in it, the wurm tumbled and crashed into a tree, which causes me to fly off, I hit the ground surprisingly on my feet and wheel about to face the wurm, it slowly gets up and turns toward me and Marco its eyes now glowing green, it raises its tail claw and strikes the tree cutting it in half like it was wet paper.

"Crap, it's gone into a frenzy!" Marco shouts

"MEI!!!,NOW!!" I yell into the large tree behind me and almost instantly an arrow shoots out of the branches and strikes the wurm in its neck, the creature shrieks in pain and reaches for the arrow grabbing it in its jaws and snapping it in two,it whips its head around to face Marco and I but before it can refocus its attention on us it starts to stagger and groan, it worked!

"Nice shot Mei!, alright airi it's you're turn!" I shout again and airi flies out of the bushes muttering an incantation

"Insomerus...sluberum!!!!" She shouts and blasts a white powder from her hands which shrikes the tatzelwurm in the face, the beast stumbles and shakes its head once more trying to keep itself awake and resist grogginess ,but it finally gives in to the spell and collapses to the ground huffing and puffing heavily as it slips into unconsciousness

"Ha ha!!! We did it!!!" I shout victoriously

"Not bad Xander!, but next time let's try a tactic that is a bit less...reckless" Marco chides, to which I shrug at my own poor sense of strategizing

"Nice job with the spell airi" she smiles and bows in mid air

"How did I do guys?" Mei ask scaling down the tree then swinging off a branch landing perfectly on her feet

"You did great sis!" Marco gushes

"Yeah Mei that training really paid off, you've definitely got an eagle eye!" I compliment her, and of course Mei just blushes and fidgets back in forth(so cute)

"T-thanks guys" she squeaks out

"Now let's get this fang and get out of here" I say and bend down to the sleeping beast and search its jaws for a loose one, 3 minutes of yanking go by and I finally pull out my prize and stuff it in my items pouch

"Alright guys lets..." I'm immediately cut off by a loud resonating screech coming from nearby

Reeeeeaaaaaaarrrrreeench!!!!

"What was that?!" Airi asks

"I don't know, it doesn't sound like any creature I've ever heard before" Mei adds

"Whatever it is it sounds like it's in distress" Marco also adds

"Marco's right, it might be in trouble and its our job to hunt as well as protect the creatures we respect and hunt, let's go!" I exclaim and rush off ninja style toward the source of the agonized screeching

Airi flies alongside me and looks down at me with an expression she only had on her face when she is genuinely concerned, and if she's concerned is usually not good

"What is it airi?" I inquire

"Xander, what if the creature we find is not in trouble but maybe trying to lure us into a trap?" Airi asks

"We'll just have to cross that bridge when we come to it"

"Don't be stupid Xander, and don't let you're heroic side get the better of you, I care about you too much to let you do something recklessly idiotic"

"You should already know airi, I may not be an idiot, but I'm for damn sure stubborn!" I exclaim and she just rolls her eyes and sighs

We finally reach the source of the screeching and jump into the trees surrounding the open clearing, then we peeked through the branches and saw strange masked and armored men holding bizarre looking weapons aimed at the strangest looking ground dragon we had ever seen. It looked around 20 feet long with a blue metallic crest on its narrow saurian snout and four horns on its skull facing down and its lower jaw facing up, it's eyes were amber gold, and the overlapping shimmering scales in is muscular body were gold with a royal blue underside, it had four fingered and powerful dexterous forearms and a sickle shoes claw on both feet, also on its back were 6 lightning bolt shaped spinal plates as well as several on the end of its tail possibly used as a whip and they looked sharp enough to slice through solid stone. And for being chained up the way it was this thing was really giving them a run for they're money, a shadow demon charged forward wth a weapon that kinda looked like a stun prod and jabbed it, it shrieked in pain, growled and whipped around and grabbed the soldier in its jaws, shook him around like a ragdoll, cracked his spine in half and threw him over the trees and out of sight the soldier screaming all the way down and landing with and audible but cringe worthy thud. 2 more men charged the creature, sensing the oncoming threat it lashed its tail around and lopped they're heads off with ease with its barbed edge. But it wasn't paying attention to the other men and three of them jabbed prods into its thigh,its upper hide and its tail, the pain was too much for it to handle and it collapsed to the ground twitching erratically, then they clamped down chains and wrapped rope around its snout to keep it in place, the creature squirmed and thrashed around trying to free itself snarling and wailing in despair while doing so.

We just stare, appalled by the sight of these horrid men torturing this poor animal, it's almost too much to bare...too much to watch.

"I..I can't just watch them do this" I stutter trying to bite back my anger and disgust

"Xander..we can't intervene" Mei says

Dumbfounded by her comment I scream back a rage fueled

"what?!, how can you say that Mei?!, how can you just stand there and watch these miserable bastards torture that defenseless dragon?!" Mei stares back at me with a look that showed that she had just gotten the shock of her life, and she did to a degree, I had never yelled at her before

"Calm down Xander, Mei is right, even if we stepped in we would only invite the possibility of more conflict and quite possibly make things much worse for the dragon" airi added

"B-but" I struggleout and peer back down at the dragon, it's wails and thrashes of pain were more than I could bare

"you guys do what you want!" I yell at them and summersault off my tree branch

"XANDER!!" They all shout but I ignore them and land on the ground like a badass and face the soldiers, who all turn around to face me

"Hey!!, leave that dragon alone!" I shout and them men draw they're prods and swords

"This had nothin to do with you kid, butt out!" A burly shadow demon like soldier warns me

"It does if you're hurting this thing, it did absolutely nothing to you!!" I shout back

The soldier then steps closer to me" I said butt out kid!, I'm not going to say it again!"

"Say it all you want you musclebound jackass!, I'm not going anywhere!!!" I rebuke holding my ground

"Heh!, you've got balls kid I'll give you that. But let's see how far that courage takes you!!!" he says than unsheathes his sword and swings it way to close, I summersault over the blade and kick off his lower arm and kick him square in his lower jaw making him fall to the ground. The other shadow men take notice and and being advancing toward me

"Hmmph! The bigger they are..." I punch my hand with my fist" the harder they fall..."

Third person pov

Airi sighs from the nearby tree" he never listens does he?"

"Nope, guess we better go help" Marco replies, than the three of them hop down as well

Xander on the other hand is dodging sword strikes parries and thrusts from another soldier and clashes swords with him but gets thrown back by his strength, the demon soldier bares down on him and is about to finish Xander off until he stops momentarily and shimmering green light surrounds him

"W-whoa what the?!" He says before being thrown into a nearby tree knocking him out.

airi floats down in front of Xander with a scowl on her face

"You just never learn do you?" She asks while pulling a faint smile on her lips

Xander's pov

"Guess not" I respond but my smile soon fades as one of the soldiers aims his prod at airi

"Look out!!" I yell and push her out of the way and swing my broad sword, he tries to jab me but I dodge his advance and slice the staff in half and land an uppercut under his jaw which makes him stumble backward

I look back at airi and say"guess we're even now"

She smiles, floats to me and kisses my cheek "Guess so" she says softly

"Hey lovebirds, hate to interrupt your beautiful moment but we have some angry demons who need to be torn a new one if you don't mind pitching in!"

Marco shouts sarcastically as a soldier charges him sword drawn, he slams it to the ground with great force but Marco only slightly swung his own massive blade and easily knocked the sword out of the soldiers hand and roundhouses him to the ground, Mei is charged at by two of them but runs up tree and backflips of of it doing a split kick and landing with a perfect split as well, she then uses her momentum and her arms to swing herself to her feet and rejoin us.

But before Airi and I get back into the skirmish the dragon rears up on its hind legs, snaps the rope around its jaws and facial crest and let's out (literally) an ear splitting screech toward the sky and does its best to stand with the chains on its arms and legs, then the row of spikes on its back start to glow along with its eyes and the small gaps between the scales on its neck, even its underbelly started to glow with small veins popping out and illuminating light blue. Above our heads cumulonimbus clouds started to form, then out of nowhere lightning bolts start to strike the ground around it with tremendous force hitting and frying the soldiers close to it leaving nothing but charred corpses with enormous gaping holes in them littering the ground, others that were closer were rendered nothing but singed skeletons. But not only did they hit them, they also aimed for us! I dodged one narrowly and It struck a tree behind me blowing it to shards, airi casted a shield over herself and redirected another into the sky with her telekinesis , Marco batted one away which illuminated his sword, bounced off and struck a boulder nearby and Mei used her magic to absorb a bolt into her bow but was blown back by the recoil of energy produced by the creature's attack, then the dragon lets out another enraged snarl then slams back down to the ground and let's out a guttural groan, it's eyes at half mast as if it's energy is slowly being drained. Then as suddenly as they appeared, the clouds quickly scatter and dissipate.

"...whoa" I say astonished by this remarkable show of power, I had no idea ground dragons could be so powerful. With hesitation I slowly and tentatively walk toward the beast being as quiet as I could

"Stop Xander!!!! You just saw what that thing did to those guys, you don't know how much power that lizard could still have bottled up inside its body!!!" Marco screams at me

"Maybe..." I respond, but get closer and the dragon spots me and let's out a low guttural growl (which sounds like a mix between a big croc and a tiger mixed with an elephant) and its slitted Amber gold eyes warily watch my every movement.

"Be careful Xander" Mei squeaks out fearfully

I reach out to try to calm the monster, down but the dragon snaps its jaws at my approaching hand with an audible "clack!" sound and hisses loudly

"Easy big fella, I'm not gonna hurt you, I'm just going to get you out of these chains" I calmly croon to the creature who still seems extremely skeptical of me.

I then move to take the chains off of its right arm, it snarls at me but reluctantly backs off, seeming to hopefully get the message that I'm not a threat and allows me to unhook the rest. When I unlock the last chain around its tail, the dragon wheels around and throws me to the ground holding me down with one of its foreclaws (like the scene in how to train your dragon), I struggle to get free but it was really friggin strong for something it's size I couldn't even move its claw!, its growls low and murderous as it stares directly into my soul with its golden amber, steely, slitted gaze (see..told you). I cringe with fear and find myself hyperventilating uncontrollably 'oh shit! its gonna kill me!' 'I'm gonna die!',I scream internally to myself.

The monster rears back and opens its long narrow jaws filled with rows of serrated metallic ivory daggers and I expect to feel the searing pain of teeth ripping away at my flesh but instead it rears back and utters a loud bellow-like roar directly into my face and bolts into the forest. I sit there astonished and chastened with fear and exhilaration instilled in within me by that creature, it didn't kill me, that was incredible!! so much power and strength...it was remarkable, if I wasn't scared shitless I would actually be jumping for joy right now!

"Xander are you ok?!, are you hurt?! is anything broken?!" Mei says as she rushes over to me and envelopes me in a bone crushing hug

"I'm fine Mei" I respond and hug back

"Oh thank gods, I though we were gonna lose you! I though it was gonna kill you!!" She responds,her voice breaking, she must have really been scared

"Me too actually, but It's ok Mei, I'm not going anywhere, and you don't need to worry so much, you'll give yourself migraines" I comment and stroke her soft lime green hair, she looks up at me with tears in the corners of her eyes and just smiles widely and returns to the hug

"You scared me half to death you idiot! Don't you ever do that again!" Her shout muffled by my jacket

"That goes double for me mr. reckless there is absolutely no limit to you're stupidity is there?!" airi adds scowling down at me with her usual smoldering sneer.

"Alright girls enough berating the poor boy, we've got the fang so let's get back to the guildhall and earn our stat updates" the girls nod and pick me up and we head back to holuna, but I on he other hand stopped and looked back at the bolt strike marks that littered the ground 'what was that thing? And why didn't it kill me?, it was unlike any dragon I had ever seen' I recollected in my head, wondering if I'd ever see it again.

"Xander are you ok?" Mei asks me softly grabbing my hand, I smile at her and respond

"I'm fine Mei, cmon lets get back home" then with hands joined we head back to the guild

By the time we get back to town it was already midday, and the sun was high in the sky casting its pale, sweltering yellow rays across our expansive, productive bazaar of a city, since it sits in the middle of a major seaway throughout the six kingdoms,we often receive the freshest of imported goods from faraway countries. We finally reached the guild entrance and standing outside was one of our guild sweethearts and main attendant while the guild master was away; manako a half elf sage, she's like Mei except take mei's heart of gold and multiply it 10 times. She is in her traditional flashy sage outfit a red and orange blouse with diamond shaped markings adorning the outside, her torso up is a cloth dress with a metal infused chest plate,she wears small shoulder pads that look like dragon scales and her arms and are covered with convertible custom made wrist gauntlets. Her skin is a light tan with a beautiful sheen to it, her eyes are hazelnut brown, her face was narrow and soft featured and showed no sign of aging despite her being 24. her hair is Raven black and to top it all of if she and Mei were to have a competition for largest bosom, manako would probably take the cake, and airi every so often catches me staring at her and berates me like no ones business,

Mei just looks downtrodden when ever she sees me looking at her as if she had stolen me away from her, Marco on the other hand can't help but get a nosebleed at the sight of this absorbent beauty whenever he sees her and compliment her every chance he got.

"Ahh!, hello young artisans welcome back!" she greets us with her silky sweet voice laden with positive reinforcement, then she turns her attention toward me, and her eyes light up like stars and her smile widens

"Xander!!!" She shouts with glee then charges toward me

"Oh boy...not again" I brace myself for the impact but even that wasn't enough, she crashed into me and stuffed my head in-between her massive bosom and twirls me around like a stuffed toy "~oooohhhhh xander I'm so so so so so happy to see you!!!" She squeals squeezing me tighter( sorry forgot to mention manako and her little infatuation with me,but I don't know where she gets it from. Maybe she has some kind of big sister mentality, that might be the case since she has sort of been my

Surrogate mom since I was taken in by the guild master, or maybe I think too much. Anyway back to the story).

Airi and Mei looked on with infuriated scowls on they're faces, airi's crimson hair flared up and glowed like fire, Mei had a dark green aura surrounding her with the silhouette of an angry demon casted around her and both had blacked out faces with glowing red eyes which spelled out nothing but murderous intent.

"Oh! hi Marco, Mei and airi so glad you guys made it back!" She coos to them Airi and Mei immediately snap out of they're little rage fueled states and pull fake smiles across they're lips

"H-hi manako( oh my gods she said hi to me! So friggin sweet!!)" Marco responds

"It's good to see you again manako(you huge pork bun breasted slut! Oh wait till I get my hands on you!!!!)" airi responds with just as much sweetness she can muster

"Yes! quite marvelous to see you again manako( you cow tittied man stealer! You think you can just take Xander away from me?!) Mei responds the same way airi does

"Uu-umm manako?" I struggle to say she then looks down at me and smiles sultrily

"~yes Xander?~"

"Wh-where's the guild master?"

"Oh, he has gone out to the holuna council, he said it was urgent business and that I would need to be in charge of guild affairs until his return, why do you ask?"

"Because he told me to bring him this" I say to her then hold up the fang

"Oooh a tatzelwurm fang!, a rare find, I guess he wasn't lying about how skilled you have become"

"Yeah, but it's not just this, I wanted to tell him that we found something else out there, something we had never seen before, and I needed to speak to him to see if he knew what it was"

"Well...you could tell me, I've been around the world many times and I've seen many strange and marvelous creatures during my cataloging travels, after all, we do live next door to the most ecologically diverse mixture of biomes in the 8 continents, come inside I'll give you all a mug of ale on the house and you can share you're tale" she offers than finally releases me and walks inside, both Airi and Mei cling to me as we walk in, oh dear gods...I swear fate is conspiring against me.

"So after we finished with the tatzelwurm, we found this really odd looking dragon being subdued and restrained by these weird looking soldier guys" airi prattles on, telling manako of our strange day

"So what did the dragon look like?" Manako inquires

"It looked about 20 plus ft long with a row of 5 spines on its back as well as several on the end of its tail, it had a blue metallic crest on its nose and blue and gold colored scales and stood with a Saurian like posture" we all looked At Mei with astonished expressions at her incredible photographic memory

"Oookay, to be quite honest I've never heard of such a creature, but mei's description actually has me remembering the legend of the fulgururaptors"

"Fulgururaptors?, what are those?" I ask

"Well eons ago, the great God zannir took pity on all of us and decided that we deserved the same special privileges that the gods had, but his brother the now demon lord ruko felt humans deserved nothing but to be they're servants and slaves, nevertheless, zannir thought nothing of his brothers rambling, much to ruko's anger and so in an act of defiance created multiple races of demonic, bloodthirsty creatures bent on the extinction of the human race. Outnumbered and with all hope lost, the humans called for the gods' help in an act of desperation. Zannir heard they're plight and appalled by his brother's actions zannir in turn created the fabled 'lightning thieves' the fulgururaptors as well as all remaining dragons told of in legend and myth to combat ruko's demon threat.

"Whoa...so what does the legend say about them?" I inquire once more

"the legend states that they were once the most powerful creatures in this realm, practically forces of nature in of themselves to be and luckily for us were on the side of the humans. They were dragons with the ability to use lightning to they're advantage with devastating effect, powerful enough to blast the top off of a mountain! Not an animal to be taken lightly" manako explains, with all of us staring at her in absolute awe

"They sound awesome!!!" Marco shouts with conviction

"Yes, but unfortunately they're reign was short, after the dragon-demon war it was rumored that they all had become extinct..however, because of what you all saw in the forest this morning if say there is still hope that these magnificent beasts still live somewhere deep in the holuna wild lands"

"Wow!, now I really want to see that thing again!!, I wonder if it really was one of them.." I gush enthusiastically

"It may very well have been, the story and mei's description seem to fit the profile of the animal" manako states again

"There's something I don't get though..." Airi interjects

"What is that airi?" Manako asks

"Just what exactly was the cause of they're supposed downfall?, I mean I understand they're numbers being decimated during the war but, after the war wouldn't there still be some roaming around? The creature we saw today may have been a fulgururaptor, so are they being hunted down somehow? And if they are, by who?"

"Hmm...that's a really good question airi!, and one the guild master could answer for you..but if I could take a stab at it I would say demon lord ruko..." Manako explains

"Why him?" I ask

"Think about it, with the threat of the fulgururaptors challenging his demonic creations and his overall dominion, his rule and ultimate hatred for human uprising is nonexistent for the time being, but if they were all extinct, humans would have no choice but to serve him out of fear of being decimated and possibly the next species of creature to become extinct"

"Hmm, I guess my question may be answered then" airi adds

"Why ask something like that airi?" I inquire and look over to her, but she had a void expression on her face as if the subject brought back memories

"I-it's kinda the same thing with us lairis', we're the closest thing to demigod-like in this realm and ruko felt it was disrespectful for "lowly creatures" like us to hold such a title, and so stripped my kind off all but our telekinetic and spell casting powers"airi reminisces

"Wow airi...I had no idea...and I thought you were cool before" I gush which causes her to turn toward me and smile with a faint blush in her face

"She's right though Xander" Mei says" lairis' are among the elder beasts or the most powerful creatures to have existed , to them they are like pseudo children to the gods given they received many of they're divine powers from them"

"I didn't know it was like that...this ruko guy sounds like a real piece of work!" I add

"Do you not know who ruko is?" Manako asks me her face just inches in front of mine as if I'd been kept in the dark about some crucial information.

"No, I've heard the stories of all of the other gods just never him, he's the one who nearly drove us to extinction right?"

"Yes,but he was also zannir's brother to and a close one at that, until the day he tried to overthrow him and kill all of us and as a result banished him to the depths of the earth, now he goes by the name demon lord ruko, a monster in of himself with centuries upon centuries to gather immense power " manako restates grimly

"Hmm...well now I know I guess" I respond

Just then the guild doors opened once again and the guild master appears with a look on his face I had not seen in a while, he looked worried, fearful even, and if he was scared then the situation must be credible enough for alarm.

"Hello mr.guild master welcome back!" Manako greets him

"H-hello manako...yes good to be back" he says half heartedly, something must be wrong

"Is something wrong sir?" She asks him sweetly

"It's nothing important, just some bad news about the area" he responds

"What kind of bad news?" I interject, then he looks down at me

"Oh Xander!, welcome back my boy!! and I see you have that fang,brilliant!" He exclaims as if he was suddenly taken out of a bad funk

"What was the problem sir?" I inquire persistent to know what we needed to worry about

"(Sigh), well there have been reports in the holuna wild lands that a large and vicious dragon has returned to this region of the forest"

Immediately I thought of the dragon we encountered earlier

"What did the reporter say it looked like?" I asked almost instantly

"They said it looked like a cross between a large bat and a wyvern, and it attacked and mutilated just about everything it got its claws on, the soldiers defending the outlier villages who tried to fight back only made it angrier and...well I'll leave the rest to you're imagining, the reason I was so worried was because the reports say it was headed toward the city" I sighed in relief that the description of the creature didn't match, but cringe at the thought of a dragon on its way here, not that it was an unusual occurrence, every now and again a dragon or monster in general goes rouge and decides the best way to cope with their anger is to terrorize a city, not that they ever really sucked that is.

"Is there anything you want us to do to prepare for an attack of some kind?" Manako asks

"Yes, manako I need you to send a message out to all of the young artisans in the field telling them to return to the guild immediately, I need them all here"

"Yes sir! It will be done" Manako replies obediently and trills and clicks her tongue, immediately following a small six legged lizard wraps itself around her neck and nuzzles her cheek, she whispers something into its ear and it chitters and flies off.

"Mr. Guild master, what about us? what do you want us to do?" I ask him

"Xander I have a very important job for you, I need you to warn the townsfolk of this, spread the word, make sure everyone is aware and prepared"

"Yessir!!, come on guys!!" I exclaimed and joined with my party, bolted out the door

"Ok Mei, airi, I want you both to take the western half of the city call me if you need me. Marco and I will take the east, this way we can cover more ground" I explain

"Xander wait, how will we contact you?" Airi asks

"Simple use a spell and send a makeshift flare into the sky and I come a runnin'" I respond

Mei and airi nod and take off toward the western gate

"Kay buddy so what's the game plan?" Marco inquires

"Well I figured that lyla's tavern would be a good place to start, rumors spread around that place like wildfire"

"Lyla's?!, uu-uhh c-could we try somewhere else first?" Marco asks as if he was withholding some juicy info

"What's the matter Marco, you owe lyla a huge debt and trying to avoid her iron club?" I egg on the joke to try and get it out of him

"N-no! I-it's just that..there's someone there I sorta want to avoid" he responds

"Is it someone who has a bone to pick with you? You know I've got you're back dude" I add trying to reassure him of my help

"No Xander...I-it's yumi" he mumbles

"Yumi, the neko?, is that it?" I ask not believing what I'm hearing, he's

scared of the sweetest,bubbliest girl in the village?!

"Oh this I gotta see dude!" I explain and rush to the tavern

"Xander!!!! you asshole!!!" Marco shouts to me

I rush into the tavern and shove the door open

"Hey lyla!!!" I shout to the blue skinned oni barmaid behind the counter

"Xander!!!, what a surprise!!! I haven't seen you in a while!, how've you been buddy?!" She exlaims in a husky yet easily feminine voice

Lyla isn't your typical oni, sure she had the look but usually oni are malicious creatures who thrive on causing mischief and grief, but she was the total opposite, she is basically a busty 8ft tall buxom nanny, with a huge heart, a brash and abrasive approach to life and she is a big softie for someone who could easily smash you're skull with one punch, but seriously the first time I met her she acted so much like a hospitable old lady who owns a boarding house than a vicious monster causing chaos amongst humans. She dresses herself in a traditional barmaid garment accentuating her voluptuous assets a bit to excessively, her hair is peach colored and brunette style with two pointy triangular ears(like an elf's), her horns protruded directly from her forehead with two gold rings around them as a way to "accessorize" her natural monster external feature, her skin being blue gave her a certain charm along with her cute and light green eyes with blacked out sclera that made her look somewhat like a demon, but trust me don't let her demeanor fool you..she's one oni you don't want to piss off,especially when you're behind on you're tab... She runs a classy establishment with tons of charm, however little could be said about the staff's attire that would obviously attract unwanted attention and physical contact, but the girls don't seem to mind and hand they're more"aggressive" customers in a brash yet respectable fashion(as if chastising them and making them feel lower than a dirt fish wasn't bad or literally sending them flying out of the restaurant, or beating the tar out of 'em!

"I've been great!, say is yumi around by any chance?" I ask

"~Ooohh!~ has mr. ladies man set his sights on yet another girl?!" She asks with that lascivious grin she always gives when she senses amour in the air

"Wha?! No actually my buddy Marco is a bit enamored with her and was scared to talk to her" just as soon as I finish that sentence she squeals and claps her hands, when it comes to matchmaking, she's all ears and horns.

"Oh my gods!, that's so cute!!!!, they would make such an adorable couple!!!, so you want me to help get them together?!" She inquires enthusiastically

"Maybe later, but is she here?" I ask again

"Yeah she's getting dressed in the back" she says then points to the drapes hung in the doorway behind her separating the rooms

"Sweet!, well tell her Marco is on his way here and will be here soon, I'll get the little stud in here" I reply and head out to find Marco heaving for breath at the entrance of her tavern

"Huff...Xander...huff huff...you better not have...done...huff...what I thought you did..." He gasps out with every breath

"Ohohoho big time champ!" I chide

"What?! you jerk!!" He lunges and lands a punch in my arm, which actually hurt, the kid may be a bit lanky but he sure can throw a punch.

"Relax, I'll just get you to pop in and say hi, nothing to hard to handle right?" I ask

"Uh w-well" he stutters out

"Of course it isn't, come on Romeo you're princess awaits!" I exclaim and push him inside

I push him inside and toward the counter but he pushes back with all of his might and we stand there locked in a stalemate of strength

"Hiya Marco!!" Lyla exclaims

"H-hi lyla!!" He turns to her which leaves me to fall to the ground without the opposing force to keep us locked in place

"So, Xander told me that you like yumi and all" she begins me which makes his cheeks flush red and his long ears droop

"W-well I guess I do" he adds

"Well, yumi is here for her shift now, so if you want to go talk to her in the back room you can.." She offers and holds her hand out to gesture him into the back room

"Oh no! I wouldn't want to bother her"

"It's no trouble at all dude, go ahead"

"O-ok" Marco says and hesitantly steps into the back room

"Go get her Romeo!" Lyla calls out endearingly, slapping his butt making the elf yelp

"So lyla, that aside, I'm here to spread the word" I comment

"For what?" She inquires

"The guild master of dragon's edge returned from his meeting with the master's council and reported a type of dragonbat creature was on a rampage and that our city was in the middle of its romp through the wild lands" I explain

"A dragonbat? Nasty creature , and quite deadly as well" she comments

"How so, does it have a rep?"

"Quite one, but not only is it dangerous when it goes into a rage, it shoots acidic fire and it's also a mind melder, however they are rarely ever seen only four reported sightings of them" lyla states

"A mind melder?, so it had the ability to manipulate you're thoughts and sensibility?"

"Well, to a degree, but it mainly projects images of horrible past memories or contorted images of a false reality to distract you and delivers the final coupe de gras. This sounds like quite the situation we're in though."

"It is, but and it only makes it worse given the fact we don't know how much time we have, are you guys going to be ready though? And can you spread the word to the townsfolk?" I inquire hopeful I can trust her

"Lyla's tavern is always ready for a monster attack, the main staff including myself are all monsters you know, and don't worry you can count on me to tell everyone but I just hope they are all prepared" she states

"Yeah..me too" I add

In the back room

Marco tentatively stepped into the dimly lit breakroom

"Y-Yumi?, you here?" He asks aloud but gets no response, he warily shifts his eyes left to right looking for her but nothing

"Meow!" He hears, his ears perk up and swivel in the direction toward the source of the yowl

"Yumi? I-is that..."

"~Nyyyaaaahhh!!!~" the cat girl exclaims and lunges toward the boy tackling him to the ground and straddling him, smiling down at him

wagging her fluffy tail giddily, then she leans down inches away from his face and says

"Hi Marco!!!"

"H-hi yumi.."

Yumi is the exactly age Marco is and she is one of the most extroverted, go getter bubbly energetic girls you'll ever meet, and it's probably why Kyla hats as many tips as she does, as if her appearance alone didn't help, yumi wore the same barmaid outfit Kyla wore, although her assets were a little less obviously shown as lyla's, they were still noticeably shown and she wasn't afraid to flaunt her stuff, still any guy hoping to sneak a grope or peek should watch out because next thing he knows he may very well be on the floor with a broken limb. Her her eyes were a vibrant shade of magenta, her hair and cat ears were pale turquoise with navy blue tips and so was her long fluffy tail, her skin was fair and creamy and her face charming and full of life, always had a cheerful smile on it.

"Lyla said you wanted to talk to me about something, which reminds me, why haven't you come to see me recently? It's like you're avoiding me"

"W-what? why would I do that, I-I've just been busy is all, nothing serious"

"Don't take me for a fool Marco! I know you've been avoiding me intentionally, but my question to you is why?"

"I-I just...its just that..."

"It's just what? Do you not like me anymore? Is there someone else?" She asks sadly, her ears drooping

"No yumi..(sigh)...the reason I've been avoiding you is because I was scared"

"Scared of what?"

"Of how you felt about me ..I really really like you..but I didn't know if you felt the same..."

"Marco..."

"I know it's a stupid reason but-" yumi cuts him off by cupping her hands around his cheeks and slowly leans in till they're lips collide, then a few seconds later she breaks the kiss and lovingly stares down at him with her magenta slitted eyes Marco just stares back shocked, and blushing like a madman by what just transpired

"O-ok, well..that just happened" he say finally breaking the silence which entices a giggle fit from the girl

"You're so cute when you're flustered" she coos which makes the blush on his face darken significantly

"I-I t...ummm uhh" he stutters at a loss for words but is stopped again by the cat girl putting a slender finger to his lips

"Shhhh..relax and think before you say anything else" she says calmy

"S-sorry" Marco mutters

"There is nothings or you to be sorry about, so what did you want to talk to me about?" She inquires

"You know, I can't remember..." He responds which gets a laugh from the neko

"Well, it's ok we can talk another time, cmon handsome!, let's go meet you're friend out front" she exclaims and sticks her hand out for him to grab, Marco turns away embarrassed by her actions but reluctantly takes it

"..Kay " he mutters low

Back out in front

"...so yeah I'll make sure everyone knows, you just take care of keeping it busy till we arrive, and if you get eaten...I'm never gonna forgive you" lyla states, her endearing personally showing

"Thanks for the vote of confidence,I'll do my best though I can't make promises" I rebuke, getting a chuckle from her and a pat on the back, just then yumi and Marco step out of the back room and into view, yumi has that gleaming smile plastered across her face, her ears perked up..she must be very happy, Marco on my the other hand has pink kiss marks riddled all over his face and his eyelids are half masted with a dumb smile plastered on his lips

"Well..looks like someone had fun, not so scary now huh?"

"Scary?, me? Now whoever said that? I'm not scary, right sweetie?"

She coos and Marco looks away ashamed, this cat girl overpowered his indomitable will...how embarrassing

"N-no" he says utterly embarrassed

"Awww!! come on!!, who's my handsome little elf?!" She croons and scratches underneath his chin with her index finger, which causes me and lyla to snicker uncontrollably

"S-shut up yumi!!!" He shouts and we all bust into laughter, it was refreshing to see things rekindle between old friends

"Oh man this is the best!!, you guys make such a cute couple!!" Lyla gushes, Marco just rolls his eyes

"Can we please get a move on Xander?! That dragonbat isn't just gonna wait for us!" He exclaims exasperatedly

"Alright buddy, thanks Lyla! I knew I could count on you,now both of you be careful and alert!!" I call back to them as I approach the door

"Of course Xander!!, you guys be careful as well!! You may be artisans but you're just as much of a target as the rest of us" she calls to me

~Bye Marco!!!~ yumi croons seductively and blows him a kiss

Marco shudders and shoves me out the door" let's go" he mumbles

"Well, lyla should take care of spreading word on this side of town, but just to be safe maybe we should check and see if there is anyone else who can spread the word" I state

"Sounds like a plan, where to now?" Marco inquires

"Hmm..I dunno maybe-" I'm cut off by the sound of tons of approaching footsteps,Marco and I snap our attention to the east gate to see thousands of artisans making they're way back to dragon's edge

"Wow looks like manako's message really got around" Marco comments

"Yeah.." I add

"C'mon Xander, we've got a job to do" Marco urges

"You're right let's--" I'm caught off guard by a loud screech resonating from somewhere in the woods

"X-Xander?" Marco asks nervously "w-was that th--"

"Dragonbat?...probably, oh man now?! of all times?!"

"We can take him right?" He asks

"I'm not sure Marco we haven't come across anything like one and we don't even know what it looks like yet so may--" the trees on the Eastern side of the gate snap and creak and a creature bursts out of the tree line and shoots into the sky, frightened artisans and civilians alike look toward the sky with fear as the dominant expression on they're faces.

It's face was barely possible to characterize because of the intense glare of the sun but we were able to make out the creatures glowing rage fueled eyes. The beast screeched again and this time swooped down and landed right in front of Marco and I, the description of it was accurate to say the least. It's head was retained bat like features such as the bats Long ears and nose, yet also retains reptilian quality a such as a scaly complexion two glowing orange eyes bat fangs, large draconic wings as well as a long powerful armored tail, spikes on its back and batlike fur

on its chest, it's back and neck and dragon/bat hybridized talons.

The beast chattered and looked up at us, and narrowed its vision at the very sight of us as if it had some grudge against humans and half elves. Marco and I unsheathed our swords and stood as battle ready as we could, not sure how long we could hold this thing off, but we would as long as we could. The beast stood on its hind legs, unfurled its wings and uttered a screechy-roar in our direction and charged directly toward us...oh man what had we gotten ourselves into?...

Xander's notes

Tatzelwurm: tatzelwurms are members of the wurm family or"crawling beasts" in European mythology that range from two legged dragons to hybridized monsters of urban to near legendary status. The tatzelwurm also called the "alps dragon" though is the main focus and comes from Austrian, German and swits mythology describing it as a creature with the head of a cat and the body of a snake with webbing on its claws and a webbed frill,In other legends a four legged pseudo dragon with a triangular hybrid cat/lizard head and a finned scaly hide, it was a carnivore known for attacking livestock using catlike methods of pinning as well as snakelike methods such as constriction, but being semi-aquatic they also use alligator like methods such as ambushing and biting off essential body parts waiting for they're prey to slowly bleed to death. They are known for they're poisonous fowl breath as well as their acidic blood and aside from livestock have been reported to attack and devour small children. Taxes wurm live in seclusion, preferring lakes, swamps, forests and mountainous regions, however they have also been reported to sneak into wells in human villages and are even said to be the causes of water shortages.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4: the nick of time

"Xander watch out!!!" Marco shout and pushes me out of the way of the creature who almost chomped me in half, and instead crashes into a building disorienting it momentarily

"Thanks Marco"

"Don't thank me yet, we still have to beat this thing"

"but how? we don't even know anything about it"

"Well at this point I don't think it matters!!"

Recovering from it's collision, the dragon bat whips around and snarls sinisterly at us, it charges again but this time stops feet away from us and rears back and breathes fire, I leap out of the way as quickly as my instincts allow me and I notice that part of my shirt that was caught in flames wasn't burnt, but looked like it was eroded, then I looked behind me to where the fire hit, and to my surprise, nothing was burning, but melting!

"Marco!! this thing breathes some kind of superheated acid!!, do you're best not to get hit!!" I shout to him

"Right!!" He responds

I take the opportunity to rush the beast who is already anticipating my attack and counters with a tail whip which I narrowly dodge and use it's own attack against it, I ran along the length of its tail and leapt onto its back. Just like with the tatzelwurm, it tried bucking me off and even swiveled its neck around to try and grab me with its jaws, but I held firm and jabbed my broadsword into its neck, causing blood to spurt out everywhere, the monster shrieked and started thrashing around more violently than before.

"Marco! Nows you're chance!!!, give it to him!!" I yell, Marco then rushes in sword drawn and with his momentum swings with all of his might and makes a deep cut in its lower flank, the sudden shock of this event causes the beast to rock backwards and subsequently throw me off its back, I flew for a good 20 seconds before I hit the ground hard and skidded back 5 feet before stopping.

"Xander!!, you alright?!" Marco asks

"Yeah I'm fine!!! But I'm not sure how much longer we can keep this up"

Then why don't we you a hand?" A voice behind us adds, and I turn around to see lyla holding the stereotypical black spiked club that Oni usually carry and yumi with claws unsheathed and tail out with a feral look in her slitted eyes

Lyla!!" Marco and I shout ecstatic

"I told you Xander at Lyla's, we're always up for a fight" she comments then charges the beast with a surprising burst of speed, it snaps its jaws at her trying to catch her but she's too quick and swings her club at its face striking with surprising accuracy.

"Sit tight boys, we'll handle his" yumi chides confidently as she dashed into the skirmish, using magic to extend her claws she slices at the monster's calf causing it to tumble back while lyla swings her club hard enough to disorient it making it stumble back from the sheer force of the blow. Yumi takes the opportunity to slice at its snout as a distraction while lyla then runs behind it and knocks out on of its legs catching it off guard but only pissing it off more and it makes a futile attempt to catch her and ends up getting clubbed in its lower jaw and falls backward screeching in pain.

"Whoa...lyla is a lot faster than I thought she was, and yumi is like a demon, I can barely track where she is" I comment dumbfounded and amazed at her speed

"Well..no use standing around like idiots we should help!!" Marco interjects

"Looks like you boys need our help again huh?" I hear the all to familiar voice and turn around to find that mei and airi had already arrived

"You guys always show up in the nick of time don't you?" I inquire

"Eh..more or less" airi responds

"I take it that is the creature the guild master described?" Mei asks

"You presume right, and lyla is really giving it a run for its money right now too" I gesture to the Oni repeatedly slapping it in the face with her club

"Well times awasting, let's go! " airi says and flies off toward the beast,the dragonbat notices and tries to shoot an acid/fire ball at her but she swoops out of the way in time and charges an energy ball and throws it at the beast, it strikes its face with deadly accuracy and it howls in pain and shakes it head trying to shake off the pain, but with no avail

"Mei, we could use an explosive arrow, we've got a plan" Marco says to his sister who nods compliantly and pulled an arrow outbid her quiver and holds her hand above it and creates a small energy field around the tip

"Ok, but what is it?"

"simple, we want you to fire the arrow on our mark, just like with the wurm earlier this morning, lyla will distract it while Marco and I rush in and try to slice off one of its limbs" I explain

"Sounds reckless Xander, just like the tatzelwurm plan" she rebukes

"Well it's the best one we have right now Mei" I respond, she sighs and looks at me with a worried expression

"I'll be fine Mei..." I calmly state

"O-ok, let's do it" she hesitantly stutters pulling a brave smile over her lips, I smile back as well and nod

"Lyla!! Yumi!!, do you think you guys can keep him busy a little while longer?" I shout to her and she turns to me and gives me a thumbs up, yumi does the same but with two and a smile

"Ok Marco let's go! Remember Mei, on my mark" I remind her and she nods in affirmation, then Marco and I bolt back into battle

Lyla lands another blow but the beast parries and flings her away with a back hand into a cobblestone building, yumi tries to get the upper hand with her speed but the dragonbat snags her in its jaws and slings her toward the sign of the tavern, she hits it with great force and is jarred unconscious by the impact falling to the ground with a thump, while taking advantage of the moment I sprint toward it and jab it directly in its neck, and slice downward spilling pools of crimson liquid on the ground, the beast yelps in pain and tries to grab me once again Marco on the other hand, enraged by what the creature did to yumi, jabs his sword into one of its winged hands and holds down with all of his might. Having it well enough distracted I turned to mei's direction and yelled

"MEI!!! NOWS YOU'RE CHANCE!!!!" Instantly on cue she muttered a spell and the end of the arrow on her bow glowed an orange-yellow color

"XANDER!!, MARCO!!! GET OUT OF THE WAY!!!" She cried out and instantly we let go of our weapons and hit the deck, then I heard the distinct cfftt!! Whizz!!! of an arrow being shot off a bow then a loud explosive "boom!!!" From behind us, the dragonbat screeched weakly in pain and tumbled to the ground...

"Yeah!!!! We..." I yell but in cut off shortly by the beast climbing back to its feet severely wounded on its left side which bled profusely, this time it's sclera had turned bright red and were glowing with absolute rage, it let out another earsplitting screech but this one was louder and concussive enough to make my ears bleed and disorient me, Marco, was about to charge but the dragon grabbed him with its long tail and slammed him to the ground then flung the unconscious half elf away

"Marc--aaaaggghhh!!" I cried out by the beast also whipped me away and I hit a metal signpost, even more disoriented than before I tried standing up but it was no use, airi tried to fly down and help me but she was also batted away by the monster's tail and hit a tree instantly knocking her out, I called out to her desperately but got no response, I internally cringed and growled in frustration, then...the monster turned its attention toward Mei...it growled gutturally, opening its fanged jaws and crouched to the ground shifting back and forth on its winged forearms as if it were a panther ready to pounce at helpless prey, slamming its tail to the ground in anger, glaring at the terrified elf girl with rage fueled glowing eyes, the female half elf gasped, eyes wide with fear and shrunken pupils, frozen stiff, with my remaining strength I yelled

"MEI!! RUN!!!" But as soon as she tried to book the beast flapped in her direction and tackled her down growling and opening its jaws just inches away from her face, sure she was going to die, she screamed in absolute horror. Enraged beyond belief at this point, I mustered up all the remaining strength I could and stood up, realizing my broadsword was gone, I resorted to using my ninjato. I unsheathed the blade and stared down the glimmering tempered steel blade with enscripted Asian characters and dragon headed hilt, with determination and fury I charged the beast again,this time running faster than I ever had before, nothing but adrenaline fueling my every footfall, my hand started glowing a spectral blue color, even the blade itself started to glow with it, and with all of my momentum I swung down and cut off the midsection of its tail, blood spurted out of the opening I created and the end that was cut off twitched and jerked around on the ground, the dragonbat roared in pain and flung its head back to me and spewed its acidic fire at my jacket covered armor which melted through and made contact with my skin, the pain was close to unbearable and I jumped backward only to be pushed down and forcefully gripped by the creature's winged foreclaw. I tried moving my hand with my sword in it but the beast picked up on my struggle and stamped down on my arm, snapping it in two.

I screamed in agony and tried to pull away but it wasn't having it, it drew closer to my face and opened its jaws, its fowl breath that stank of rotten flesh whoffed onto my face, it's long fangs were encrusted with dried blood and its acidic fire brimmed in the back of its throat with little dribbles falling from its maw and stinging my face, it snarled and lunged at my face and I turned away at the last minute.

"XANDER NO!!!!!" Mei cried out in desperation, but her face switched from anguish to surprise when we both heard a familiar screech from behind us, I craned my head up and a blur rushed out of nowhere and collided with the dragonbat which sent it backwards slamming into another building, Mei rushed to my side, caressed my face and squeezes me tight.

"Oh my gods Xander!!!!, oh gods what happened?!" She demanded and she stares me directly in my eye

" I-it...broke my..arm..oh gods it hurts!!!" I

cry out in pain but she holds me down and grabs my sword

"Just stay still..I'm gonna get-" but as soon as she says that a creature lands on the ground right in front of us, except it's not the dragonbat, it's golden scales, the blue tinged metallic spines on its back, it's golden Amber eyes and wingless back seemed so familiar..the dragon bent down to us and chittered softly, Mei pulled out her elven sword, aimed it at the creature and held me protectively

"Stay away from him!!!" She screamed in anger the most I had ever heard her muster, the beast jumped slightly and growled quizzically

"M-Mei wait!..isn't that the same dragon we rescued in the forest?" I ask, she looks at me dumbfounded and then shift her gaze back to the creature which was purring and cocking it's head back and forth like a bird, then she realizes it and gasps

"Oh my gods it is!" She exclaims and the beast chatters happily

The dragonbat screeches and climbs out of the building and recovers from its tumble, it then slinks toward us and roars at the top of its lungs, the dragon turns toward it but stands in front of us as if it where in some kind of defensive stance and let's out a loud bellow of its own, its spines start to glow and spark with electricity, the bat charges and the wingless dragon follows suit, it swings one of its winged claws but misses and the ground dragon leaps up, whips around in midair and slams its thick tail directly into the dragonbat's jaws knocking a few fangs out of its maw, it's shrieks at the sudden pain and backpedals away, then it shoots a ball of green fire at the dragon which strikes it in its underbelly, but it backflips and lands on all fours. It utters a deep growl and its spinal plates glow brighter, a deep reverberating whir is heard while it shakes its spines back and forth which spark and crackle with each bolt growing larger as the whir gets louder, finally the dragon snarls, it clacks its jaws together ,opens them at a 90 degree angle and a beam of concentrated bluish/white lightning shoots out of its maw with a strange "Kachoom" sound upon its release.

The dragonbat is blasted backward by the force of the dragon's firepower, and tried to use its wings to block the beam, but ended up getting them fried.

"My gods...that power, it's the same kind I sensed when it held me down in the forest, is that the kind of power fulgururaptors have?" I ask to no one in particular marveling at the dragon's power

The dragonbat unfurled it's now singed wings and screeched weakly and in utter shock but it was cut off by another more powerful beam blasting it directly at its chest and finally burning right through, the Lightning dragon's spinal plates stopped glowing and it let out a challenging snort but the dragonbat didn't utter a sound and collapsed to the ground twitching from the electrical surges still riddling its hide. The Lightning dragon let out a resonating triumphant roar and turned back to us. At this point I couldn't believe what had just happened, I had not only been in a life or death situation once but twice in the same day, and the dragon who I rescued had come to return the favor...succumbing to the pain in my arm and the shocking situation I was just in I passed out in mei's arms

"Xander!..." I heard her faintly cry out...then...silence...

The next time I woke I was back at dragon's edge but in one of the resting rooms made for artisans who got incapacitated or severely injured during a mission, I tried sitting up but got held down by the pain in my left arm, I looked down the bed to find Mei sleeping at the base on a chair..she must have stayed with me to make sure I was ok..how noble of her.

She started in her sleep and looked up at me and her face immediately lit up and she crashed into me litteraly sobbing into my shoulder

"Oh gods thank you!!!, I'm so glad you're ok!! I don't know what happened!!!" she screamed into my shoulder

"thank you Mei, are we back at dragon's edge?"

"Yeah, you've been out for two days!" That news shocked me and I responded

"Two days?!, what about Marco, airi, lyla and yumi?!" I asked gripping her shoulders tightly

"They're all fine, the guild master, manako, and a group of artisans came and found us after that lightning dragon disappeared back into the wildlands"

I thought for a second and responded

"That dragon...it saved us"

"Yes it did, but why?" Mei inquires

"Maybe because we rescued it from those weird demons, and it was returning the favor.." I was cut short by a knock on the door

"Come in" Mei says, then the door opens and In comes the guild master

"Well welcome back to the land of the living my boy!!" He exclaims in his normal endearing tone

"Thanks, though I've had better days to be honest" I respond sarcastically

"I'm sure you have, young Mei here didn't leave you're side for one second these past two day, she refused to when we found her with you" Mei just blushed and looked away

"Wait, you were out there, so you must have seen-"

"Yes my boy...we saw it"

"Then is it true...is he a fulgururaptor?"

"He is indeed...at last proof of they're existence"

I nearly jumped for joy but only got as far as the end of my bed until my arm disagreed with me and Mei pushed me back toward the pillows

"Just take it easy, you should be fine to move in a couple of hours, manako made you a strong regenerative ointment"

"Get some rest Mei I'll be fine by myself"

She sighs exasperatedly and stands up, she then heads for my face, leans down and plants a prolonged kiss on my cheek and hugs me tight

"Don't you ever scare me like that again you idiot" she whispers into my ear

"Can't make any promises" I rebuke, she giggles and saunters out of the room

"My you certainly have a way with the ladies don't you?" The guild master comments snidely

I blush and look down" eh..I guess"

"Get some rest Xander, the others were given the same ointment, they should be up in a few hours and when you wake up...meet us in the main hall, we have a lot to discuss"

"Kay" I respond and the guild master leaves, I sit back on the pillows and reminisce on the past events,saving a dragon then having it save me...I'm either stupidly lucky or extremely reckless.

Far off into the interior islands

A small demon, hovers above a large crack in the ground scoping out the scene, then another shows up with a grave expression on its face

"Well what have you to report?" The red demon asks

"I bring bad news, my lord's dragonbat has been killed...by a fulgururaptor " the blue one responds, and the red one's eyes shoot open

"Hmm..this is not good, I will go confront lord ruko about this" the red one states and dives down into the crack, it empties out into a seemingly separate dimension made of fire and lava, demons of all kinds working and fighting amongst eachother for dominance. The small red demon approaches a mansion of sorts guarded by two traditional hoofed demons, they hold they're spears to him but he stopped them by saying

"I bring a message for lord ruko" the two then withdraw their weapons and open the door for him, he steps inside and walks down an expansive hallway filled with plaques of different creatures heads and dismembered body parts taken as trophies. He reaches a large skull engraved door and knocks twice

"Who enters my lair?" A gruff voice rings out

"L-lord ruko, it is I, your servant roc, the red zulic"

The door opens to a large throne room lit by candlelight and fire lanterns, at the throne sits a man looking in his late 30's, his head is hung low as if contemplating, making visible his four curved segmented horns atop his head, he wears a large black cape with two large claws as hooks to keep the thing on his neck ,covering a violet blackish tunic and baggy pants, he wears spiked boots and carries with him an obsidian staff that glows with purple fire from the business end.

"Roc...you have returned..what news do you bring?" He asks rather calmly

"I-i am afraid you're dragonbat has been dispatched my lord" expecting his master to be furious he kneels on the ground

"Ahh...no matter..it was an unstable, uncontrollable nuisance, it was better of being killed by an artisan anyhow...not sure why I even kept the damn thing around"

"But my lord, it wasn't killed by an artisan...it was killed...by a fulgururaptor"

"WHAT?!" He shouts in anger making his two large batlike wings flare out, his staff ignites like a stoked flame, and reveal his four slitted yellow eyes now wide and filled with rage " impossible!!!! that is the most ridiculous thing I have ever heard!!!, fulgururaptors are extinct!!! I saw to they're eradication myself!! The very thought of one crawling this earth fills me with utter disgust!!!" He then slams the ground with his staff cracking the floor with the force of the sheer power he wields as a god.

"B-but it is true my lord, it was seen accompanying a half elf and a young artisan" roc stutters out, which causes ruko to look back to him with a confused expression

"an artisan accompanying the most powerful creature in this realm apart from the gods?" The pondered this for a second then piped up "did you're scout manage to catch his or hers name?"

"H-his name is Xander hellstryfe my lord"

"Hellstryfe?!...hmm.." He then let out a brief evil chortle and sat back at his throne

"Haaah...Well well, it seems my brother and his divine counterparts are attempting to keep me in what they presume to be "my place", well played zannir...well played, but two can play that game dear brother...I have waited centuries to finally take hold of this world...and I'm not giving it up without a fight...you want another war brother.."

He walks out toward his expansive "zoo" just out side of his throne room and is met with various screeches, howls, roars, barks, snarls, gargly, guttural growls, croaks,moans and chitters from each of the demonic "pets" he had created, he stepped toward the nearest cage, morphed his hand into a claw and cut the latch holding the creature in which burned on contact with the ground and turned to ash.

"You've got a war..." He finishes and utters a devious laugh, as the wolf like creature contained in the cage lunged out ", rips the chains off its body and bounds off, presumably toward the entrance of the underworld

"And so it begins...the second Great War!...who will save your precious humans now brother?!, WHO?!?!!??!!" His malicious, maniacal laughter echoes throughout the hellfire stoked landscape and even through the crack in the ground leading to it. The canine like beast leaps out of the entrance and sniffs the air for its target, it's catches the scent, a arms and heads toward the sea, it's next destination; Holuna...


End file.
